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news
Riccardo Ricco (picture- Vacansoleil).jpgRiccardo Riccò reportedly caught red-handed buying doping products
Riccardo Riccò, banned from cycling until 2024 as a result of doping, is reported to have been caught red-handed by Carabinieri as he attempted to buy prohibited substances including EPO and testosterone in a McDonald’s car park in Livorno, Italy, yesterday afternoon.
Riccò, who has been riding gran fondo mass participation events since he was handed a 12 year ban in April 2012, was with another cyclist, former professional Matteo Cappè, reports the Tuscan newspaper, Il Tirreno.
However, the 31-year-old, who previously served a two-year ban after testing positive for CERA on the 2008 Tour de France, a race in which he won two stages, denies that he has done anything wrong.
"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said, denying that the drugs seized by the Caribienieri – 30 packages in all – had anything to do with him.
Riccò and Cappè potentially face charges relating to illegal possession of performance enhancing drugs, and the two men they were allegedly buying the products from are reportedly both under house arrest.
They are healthcare worker Fabrizio Boccolini, aged 48, and 50-year-old shopkeeper Antonio Catarsi, both of whom have been accused of dealing in drugs for doping, and who could face between two and eight years in prison.
Searches of their homes uncovered 100 packages of drugs with a value of €15,000, some marked “exclusively for hospital use,” leading to suspicions they may have been stolen.
According to the Caribinieri, the two cyclists arrived at the appointment in a car – Riccò lives in Modena, more than 200 kilometres away by road – while Boccolini and Catarsi came by scooter.
As well as a bag containing the 30 packages of doping products, officers also recovered €1,170, which they believe was to be used as payment for the drugs.
The 12-year ban given to Riccò last year resulted from a botched attempt the previous year at a self-administered blood transfusion that resulted in him being hospitalised and sacked by his then team, Vacansoleil.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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34 comments
Keep ignoring the real cheaters...
wow what a twat
"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,”
more like
"I was in the right place at the right time buying the wrong stuff from the wrong people for the wrong purpose. I am a turd.”
Ba Da Ba Bow, I'm lovin' it.
This guys seriously needs some help.
He also still has sponsors. I'm not as naive as you appear to be suggesting.
Money doesn't change the fact indulging in almost suicidal self administered blood transfusions or pumping your body full of blood thickening, cancer causing chemicals completely unsupervised with no medical training is not the behaviour of a rational person.
Agree with 'Jimmy Ray Will' Italian Fondo's (the front end with the pros) are another story....big money!
Still makes him a complete idiot....very sad
Ok, to confirm, this is probably less about sickness and more about the financial incentives.
In europe, there are sportives fro tourists, and then there are Sportives. These are races, simple as.
There is no masquerading like in the UK, we are talking closed roads, prize money the works...
Ricco could earn mega bucks as a Fondo pro, and without drug tests, its a free for all... We all talk about 'why not just legalise drugs and its a level playing field'... well look no further, its being done.
What a chump.
I really feel sorry for the lad. He's clearly quite ill and I don't think anyone can help him. If pumping dead, old, rotten blood into your body causing yourself to have a kidney failure and developing septicemia isn't enough of a wake up call then I don't know what the hell would be.
His missus, Vania Rossi, has also tested positive for EPO so christ only knows what his home life is like.
I can't see this ending well at all, my gut feeling it that he is going to end up killing himself.
IIRC McDonalds in Frejus was one of Lance Armstrong's favourite rendezvous points. Is there a trend here ???
Brings a new meaning to Happy Meal.
Los Pollos Hermanos?
In fairness it's probably better this than one of those American burger promotionytthings Macs are pumping out at present....
......but has he demonstrated incompetence in clipping in?
This is very wrong. So very wrong.
a) McDonalds. OFFS.
b) And he arrived by car.
Of course, if he had cycled the 200km there and back by back by bike, and done the buy in a restaurant or a cafe, it still would have been wrong. But at least be wrong in style.
More of a concern would be whether he is now a middle man dealing to his friends in the peloton.
By all accounts, he doesn't have may friends in the peloton...
The guy clearly has problems. Anyone who does what he has done, goes through the media vilification and then carries on doing it (at what looks like a significant financial cost) in order to win amateur races clearly has some issues to deal with. He was a talented rider - even without the juice, he could most likely win any gran fondo he entered, so it's clearly a long way beyond any form of logic/calculation.
When the real cheaters get found out, it's time to reel out the sacrificial lambs...
Someone had better let the journalists know as plenty of reports on these events I've seen recently refer to "the race".
Easy to get confused...I have the etape caledonia 'race guide' here!
Timed, yet non competitive mass participation tack hunt?
Doping to win a gran fondo. Seriously. Christ.
You seem to be underestimating how seriously those on the continent take Gran Fondos. Some of the riders are proper, bona-fide, massively sponsored, cycling celebrities.
I've doen a couple and can honestly say I've ridden less competitive crits and road races here in the UK.
'how long till someone gets busted doing sportives in the UK...'
why on earth would anyone get busted? SPORTIVES AREN'T RACES.
Did he supersize it?
Bellend!
doping to win a plastic medal, ba ha ha heard it all now
^Gran Fondos have prizes.
His stupidity is fantastic.........could have been worse tho.......if he'd been tucking into a happy meal as well.
how long till someone gets busted doing sportives in the UK...
he did what .... !!!!
will this guy ever learn, oh wait just answered
that myself didn't I
Now, who is brave enough to follow up on the leads?
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